I Don't Care Much
by M04
Summary: Song fic, I Don't Care Much from Cabaret. Albus tumultuous relationship with Gellert is the subject of great strife between Albus and Aberforth. Not exactly a surprise ending but I felt inspired. Slash pairing (Not graphic).


A summer day much like the other summer days this summer: oppressively humid, sun pelting down for all it's worth, Aberforth hidden away upstairs and Arianna sitting... And staring. Albus shuffled around the kitchen, making a show of cleaning up the breakfast dishes without accomplishing much. Inside, in a place he'd never show anyone, he was watching his sister resentfully. All she does did was stare. He paused mid-thought; that's not true. Occasionally she went off like a Muggle gun and then Merlin help us.

When a knock came at the door, Albus decided he was in no mood for guests and ignored it. Arianna's staring out the window in the back of the house wouldn't be visible from the front step. Frustrated, he sat down, willing himself to write something, anything, just enough to get published and make a little money. He didn't tell Aberforth, he wasn't that cruel, but the family coffers weren't going to be enough to sustain them without some income. Lost for ideas Albus held his head in his hands and sighed.

The knock came again, more persistent. "Albus, aren't you going to answer the door?" The shout from the room above, unfortunately, was bound to be heard by the interloper outside. Sometimes he could just hit that boy, why doesn't he do it if he's so invested? That was a good idea.

"I'm working Aberforth if it's critical they'll come back later. Of course, you could answer it." Glad to have solved that little issue Albus looked down at the blank parchment in front of him once again, willing his brain to fire up and produce something he could sell. He was so focused on his parchment that he didn't hear Aberforth come down the stairs, open the door and invite Bathilda Bagshot into the house. What caght his attention is something new, a voice he's never heard before.

"You are so kind to velcome us into your home, Aberforz. I'm sorry to hear zat your brozer is indisposed." The voice curls down the hallway and licks Albus' ear, nearly knocking him off his stool. "I vas so hoping to meet him. My aunt has spoken so highly of him."

Without a care for the fabrication already in place Albus straightened himself to his full height and sauntered casually into the drawing room, feigning surprise at the arrival of the guests. "Abby, why didn't you tell me we had company?" Albus ruffles his brothers hair for an added touch of fraternal feeling, which he's read about in books. Aberforth glanced up at his brother with a look that seems to ask if Albus had recently dropped a kettle on his head while "cleaning."

"Please, have a seat. Abby would be glad to fetch us some tea." It seemed to be all Aberforth could do to restrain his conflicting impulses to stammer in confusion or laugh. Apparently the pleading look in Albus' eyes convinced Aberforth to play along, for now, and he drifted off to the kitchen to make tea. Probably best he did it anyway, Albus wouldn't know his hat from a tea kettle, and he might start a fire if he tried to be domestic.

"Well, I was just telling Aberforth that my great-nephew Gellert will be staying the summer with me. He said he's been anxious to see how we live in England, and I thought you, both of you, might be a better introduction to English life than a silly old woman." Albus' blush was genuine, and he looked down, peeking a look at Gellert through his eyelashes in an attempt to play coy. Gellert is breath taking. His long blonde hair is drawn back in a loose pony tail at the back of his neck, drawing attention to a defined jaw and well proportioned, if Arian, features. Perhaps his most striking feature was the way his lips curved when he speaks, Albus found himself thinking he could watch those lips for days on end, even if he didn't understand what he was saying.

Finding the ability to speak again failed Albus as he watched the blonde through his ginger lashes. As the silence moved from companionable to awkward Gellert, made an attempt to draw Albus' attention, as though he didn't have it already. "I vould very much like to see how you spend your summer holiday. Tell me, vhat do you do for fun?"

At that Albus' eyes snapped back up, so he was looking directly at the man sitting across from him. He opened his mouth to speak, but no sound came out. He licked his lips and tried again, "W…weh… Well, Aberforth will be busy with his summer school work, but we will go down to the lake as often as we can, and of course, I work on spell craft."

"Yes, I had heard zat you were quite the accomplished spell master. I've tried my hand at it some, I vonder if I could bozer you to look at some of my ideas. I sink zey may be along the same lines as your vork. I particularly enjoyed your essay on zee uses for dragon's blood."

"You…" Albus sputtered and stopped like an engine out of fuel.

"Tea!" Turning a grateful eye to his brother for the interruption Albus recomposed himself before handing out tea cups. When Albus reached for the sugar spoon Gellert raised a questioning eyebrow.

"I vould have sought you vere sveet enough wizout sugar."

Albus stared at Aberforth across the breakfast table, both of them sitting up straight with their shoulders squared. Identical blue eyes glared daggers over the butter and milk, Aberforth clenching his teeth while Albus squeezed a butter knife with such force it seemed it might bend.

"I told you Albus, I've got work to do. You can't go out every day with him or I'll never get anything done, not with Arianna wailing the way she is. You've got to take a day with her."

"And I told you Aberfroth, my work is what puts food on this table!" He pounded the table with his fist for emphasis. "If I'm not allowed to do it then what do you propose we do?"

Aberforth hissed at his brother through his clenched teeth. "You're not working Albus, we both know that. The essay you were working on is about uses for wolfsbane, what could Gellert," he spat the name as though it were something foul, "possibly contribute to an article about wolfsbane? Isn't his specialty _wand_ work?"

Albus stood up, launching his chair backwards, the knife still clutched in his hand as he formed a fist. "Aberforth, so help me, I will…I will…"

"You will what, dear brother?"

"You'll regret you ever said an unkind word about Gellert Grindewald, just you wait." With the somewhat feeble comeback out before he could stop it Albus decided to storm away to add emphasis to his words. He didn't think he'd really ever hurt his brother, they were family. But the way he insinuated… Albus shook his head as he marched purposefully out the back door and across a field. When he was sure he was alone Albus sat down under a tree without realizing it was occupied.

"Vat brings you here, so early in zee morning?" Blonde hair hung down in front of Albus' face before their eyes met. The twinkle of mischief in Gellert's gaze quickly banished all thoughts of rows and families and obligations.

Without missing a beat Albus replied, "Well, someone has to watch the great and terrible Gellert Grindelwald and heaven knows old Bagshot can't be asked to do it all the time." In a motion worthy of a gymnast, Gellert vaulted himself out of the tree and lowered himself from his branch to stand in front of Albus' crossed legs.

"Albus, you vound me. You seem to be implying zat my intentions are less than honorable and I assure you, I have nozing but the best goals in mind."

"For the greater good," Albus nodded, "So we've decided."

"But you agree, dear Albus, it vould be so much better for all involved if ve had dominion over all the lesser creatures, not just some. Ve know better, ve know what's best for them. It is only right that ve should be in charge, after all, are not children subject to zee vill of zeir parents?"

"And what are muggles but over grown children?"

"Indeed," Gellert dropped to his knees in front of Albus and lifted his hands from his lap, watching them as he turned them in the light. "There is a reason, after all, zat Muggles have always had kings and queens. Zey knew zey needed guidance; zey just sought it from the wrong places. Togezer…" He paused to kiss the back of Albus' hands, one at a time, "Ve can guide zem into righteousness."

Albus blushed and gazed up into Gellert's eyes the way he had when they first met. He had since learned that this diminutive gesture as like a flame for a moth, drawing Gellert to him. It was only moments until the kisses moved from his hands, up his wrist, to his shoulder, his neck and finally his lips. The brush of his lips lit Albus up from the inside, lit him up in a way he hadn't thought possible.

In bed, much later that night, Albus adjusted himself closer to Gellert's warm, sleeping body. The feeling of his firm body wrapped protectively around Albus was intoxicating. Still, Albus' mind spun while Gellert mumbled in his sleep and pulled his bedmate closer. The things Gellert was suggesting were illegal, he knew that, and immoral to… in a certain light. But they were doing it for the greater good and in the end that would be all that mattered. Clichés don't become cliché for no reason; the ends do justify the means.

Still, the idea of imprisoning and murdering…executing, he corrected himself mentally, seemed like a dangerous and dark road to go down. Who were they but two young, though admittedly brilliant, young men. Gellert would say that only those who could not be made the see the wisdom of their plan would have to be dispatched and those could easily be replaced. Gellert talked about people the same way his mother had talked about fruits and vegetables. Keep the best, bin the rest.

"Vee have to go Albus, Vee cannot start a revolution for zee vorld on an island."

"England is not just an island, Gellert. England is a colonial superpower; the muggle queen is head of state in…"

"Not zis again, Alby, dear, vee vant to have an impact vhere it matters. Vee cannot rely on muggle structures to make our point and zee vizarding population most sympathetic to our ideas is on zee continent. Vee simply cannot do all zat must be done here." Gellert gestured frustratedly around him as though trying to force Albus to understand what a piddling little piece of land England really was. How the ability of muggles to subdue other cultures was of no relevance to their plans. He rubbed his temples and sighed; Albus took Gellert's hand and kissed the tips of each of his fingers.

"I can't leave Gellert. If I could leave home I would have been on a trip around the world this summer, we would never have met." Albus offered up a pained sigh and glanced up into the slightly taller man's eyes. "Nothing has changed for me Gellert, I still have responsibilities her… here. I cannot just leave."

"No one said zee casualties would only be strangers Albus, if your family loves you zey will understand zat you cannot reach your full potential trapped here playing house mother."

Albus dropped Gellert's hand, throwing it back towards him. "You just don't understand, you aren't even trying to understand. You say you care for me… We… We…" he stopped and looked up at Gellert again, pleading with his eyes for the man he loved to understand. He'd given this man his heart, his bed, his purity…he loved him. He needed to know the feeling was mutual. "Don't you…?"

"Of course I do, Alby. But ve all must make sacrifices for zee greater good."

"Albus, you cannot be serious?" Aberforth seemed to think that saying this phrase over and over again at increasing volume and shrillness would make his point more clearly. Albus' face is as red as his hair as he shook with rage, staring at his brother.

"I'm very serious Aberforth, we have things to do and they must happen on the continent. You can't understand, you're little."

If Aberforth could have spit fire, he would have. "Little? I am not LITTLE Albus; you're the one who is a small, childish, selfish, unreasonable, irresponsible…"

"How dare you! I gave up my trip to take care of you and Arianna."

"And a fine job you've done of it to, haven't you, _Alby_?" He sneered Gellert's pet name for him with venom in his words, "Did you know Arianna shattered one of mother's china vases this morning? From a different room? Did you know she's been having nightmares again?"

"I…"

"No, of course not, because you've been so busy taking care of yourself that you can't be arsed to notice the family you are supposedly here to care for. Better you should have gone on your trip and left me to care for Arianna, at least I love her!"

"How dare you suggest I don't love my sister? I love both of you more than life itself!" Albus was shaking with rage, pushing hard against himself to keep from raising his wand to his little brother. Even if Aberforth stood a chance against him in a duel, which of course he did not, he was forbidden to use magic outside of school. It would be unfair. It did also briefly cross his mind that he might undermine his shouted claims of love if he raised a wand at his brother.

"You don't love us Albus, you tolerate Arianna out of duty and I just get to be here too. You love two people: Albus and Gellert. The rest of us are just scenery!"

"I'm going to the continent and you can't stop me Aberforth!" He dodged around his brother's observation, setting the assumption aside for further study.

"So will you visit Arianna at St. Mungo's the next time you're in England?" Aberforth's voice had dropped to a conversational tone, startling Albus with the sudden quiet.

"What?"

"Well, I'm not permitted to drop out of school as I'm not yet a qualified Wizard. I might be able to fake being an adult for the rest of the summer but in the fall, the Ministry will come looking for me. When they find me here alone with her, they'll put me on a train and send her to the hospital. Unless you were planning to swing by and drop her off yourself, on your way out of town?"

"I…Aberforth…Maybe…I could…We could…" Albus groped about incoherently for a counter to his brother's argument. Regardless of what Aberforth claimed Albus did love his siblings and his mother, even more. The woman gave her life to keep Arianna from being locked away in St. Mungo's; Albus knew he couldn't let his mother's death be in vain.

Gellert sat with his back against a tree, running his fingers through Albus long red tresses, watching the drowsing young man. Albus hummed contentedly and opened his eyes to gaze up, the eyes were full, he hoped, of his love.

"Stay with me Gellert. Aberforth will be done with school in a few years and then he'll go and we can have the house mostly to ourselves."

"And vat do you sink happens to the wretchedness of zee vorld vile ve play at house with the damaged daughter?"

Albus sat up quickly, turning to look into Gellert's eyes. "That's not fair, Gellert."

"Life iz not fair Albus. Our plans vill put so much of it right, but ve cannot do it from a cottage in the Godric's Hollow. How can ve find The Hallows here?"

"You said the Peverell brothers were a good start."

"A start Albus, not an end. I cannot stay here and if you truly believe ve are vorking for zee greater good zen you should be villing to leave all of zis to accomplish our goals. Don't you understand, Albus? After ve have accomplished our ends Arianna will not need to fear, she will be feared as the powerful witch she was destined to be from the beginning."

As much as possible without standing up Albus draws away from Gellert, shaking his head. "She isn't powerful Gellert; she's dangerous and broken…"

"And she shall be avenged! She vill be placed over the middling dregs of the earz chere she should have been her entire life!"

"Arianna doesn't want world domination Gellert, she just wants her family."

"Isn't that vhy vee need the Hallows, Albus? So she can have her family?"

"Well, yes, but…" Gellert reached out one hand to stroke Albus cheek. Without any thought, Albus leaned into the caress, closing his eyes. He sighed, letting the blonde over take him.

"You're a stupid little boy Aberforth; you're trying to stand between your brother and greatness!"

"Gellert, please!" Albus looked frantically between his fuming brother and shouting partner, each brandishing wands threateningly.

"Greatness? Greatness?! You call this madness greatness? Abandoning his family to go in search of a rock and a wand from a children's story? Do you think I haven't heard you two talking, whispering late at night?" Aberforth's voice grew progressively louder, "You are a madman and you've got my brother wrapped around your finger, don't think I can't see it!"

"Aberforth, why were you listening to our conversations?! I am my own man, I stand on my own feet, how dare you!"

"The sounds I hear coming through the thin walls are not you _standing_, Albus," Aberforth sniped, his voice full of contempt.

"You little pervert! How dare you listen to… to our private…How dare you?!" Albus voice shook and his cheeks became a rosy pink.

"He just vishes he was as brilliant as you Albus, he vants to stand between you and zee future you should have."

"Nothing to say Albus? I should have known you'd side with this…narcissistic conjurer of cheap tricks! Just you wait Albus; your loyalty to him will pay you back in spades… to the back."

"Aberforth! Stop it this instant." Albus' voice creaked and he started to cry.

There was a flash, time seemed to stop around them. Albus didn't know who fired the first spell, all of them being reasonably proficient at non-verbal spells. Albus quickly changed from nonverbal to shouted shield charms, doing all he could to keep the two young men from hurting each other. No one saw the frail girl come down the stairs to investigate the commotion. No one saw her panic and close her eyes, dropping onto the floor with her arms wrapped around her knees. When Albus finally realized the crackle of magic in the air isn't coming from either his lover or his brother the damage was already done. The explosion rocked the house and then everything was still.

Aberforth crouched down next to his sister, panic painted clearly on his face. Albus watched him feel for a pulse and then shake his head before bursting into tears. When he turned to be comforted by his lover, he found the door open and the fall leaves blowing down the length of the walk, stirred by the fleeing feet of a blonde boy.

Fighting back his own tears Albus gathered up his younger brother and lifeless sister in his arms; together he and Aberforth keen for their loss, for their childhoods, their parents , and their sister. Albus decided, with all his heart, that he doesn't care about that man. Perhaps he never did.


End file.
